A Fox News contributor who questions the president’s birth certificate and believes Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were removed just prior to the U.S. invasion claims there are Islamic extremists working in the Obama administration.

World Net Daily trumped up comments that retired Air Force Gen. Tom McInerney made Thursday during an appearance on WMAL-AM to discuss a new book written by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

“McInerney, who served as both assistant vice chief of staff and commander in chief of U.S. Air Forces Europe, has surprised interviewers on a radio program by confirming the presence of the Muslim Brotherhood inside the U.S. government,” the WND report claims.

The online report cites a book written by Aaron Klein, a WND senior reporter, and Brenda J. Elliott, an anti-Obama blogger, to provide background for the retired general’s claims.

The speculation is based on a conspiracy theory alleging Abedin, who is Muslim, has family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been promoted by Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) and was concocted by Islamophobe pundit Frank Gaffney.

The report also claims Mohamed Elibiary, a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council, has ties to the Islamist organization but offers no citations or other proof.

“We’ve got Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. government today,” McInerney said on the radio program.

The radio hosts asked McInerney to reveal their names, but he hesitated.

“I haven’t got their names exactly but there’s a list of them, at least 10 or 15 of them in the U.S. government,” McInerney said.

More details about these claims would eventually be revealed, the retired general said – by Gaffney or his colleague, conspiracy theorist Clare Lopez.

McInerney echoed claims made by Gaffney and Lopez that the Obama administration had backed Islamists in the Arab Spring uprisings with disastrous consequences for U.S. and Israeli interests – including the Benghazi terrorist attacks.

“The Middle East is coming apart with this administration’s policies. Look at Libya. We should never have gone into Libya,” McInerney said. “We’ve got Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. government.”